


wilson

by romanticalgirl



Series: December Ficlets 2007 [21]
Category: House M.D.
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-17
Updated: 2013-03-17
Packaged: 2017-12-05 15:36:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/724907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romanticalgirl/pseuds/romanticalgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Originally posted 12-22-07</p>
    </blockquote>





	wilson

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted 12-22-07

t’s amazing how many people think that there’s quiet in a hospital. Wilson stands in the foyer by the clinic and listens to the bustle around him – codes and pages, carts and equipment, visitors and doctors and patients, pain and suffering and salvation all muttered in whispers loud enough to be a roar.

And, as always, beneath it all, the hard plastic tip of House’s cane, punching out the rhythm they’re all supposed to dance to.

It’s always amusing to him, before people know his dubious standing as House’s best friend, that they warn him away. Suggest that a nice guy like him better steer clear of a man with House’s temper and cutting wit. Wilson never bothers to correct them, never informs them that, as what serves as House’s conscience, he’s better aware of his best friend’s failings than most.

What they also don’t know, don’t see, is that House is equally aware of his. 

People see doctors who work with cancer patients as some sort of default saint, helping to stave off death and let the afflicted find some measure of peace before they pass on. What he does is irrelevant to what they want to believe, and he does little to sway them from their thoughts. It’s not worth it to fight losing battles with the people who need reassurance that he’ll help them move on from this life with some dignity and without the crushing lack of hope. 

The other losing battles – against cancer, against House – those are worth fighting, both because he really doesn’t have a choice.

People wonder, once they find out, what it is that House has on him that keeps Wilson hanging around. The few who know – Cuddy and Stacy – never talk about it, and House only mentions it when they’re alone, sunk into the couch and too drunk to think about moving or going home. Certain things are better left unsaid, and there are differences between a losing battle and one you’ll never win.


End file.
